Lord Rogers, the architect behind the abandoned Chelsea Barracks development
in London, has accused the Prince of Wales of "an abuse of power"
which led to it being shelved.

Architect Lord Rogers objected to the appointment of the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment to help design an alternative scheme at Chelsea BarracksPhoto: GETTY

By Murray Wardrop

6:50AM BST 16 Jun 2009

The Prince last week won his fight to halt a £1 billion development of contemporary flats financed by the Qatari royal family at the historic site.

Lord Rogers, 75, has now attacked the Prince, claiming that he"single-handedly destroyed the project" and acted in an "unconstitutional" way by influencing the decision for the withdrawal of plans for 548 flats in steel and glass towers.

The Prince called the design"unsympathetic and unsuitable'' and has proposed a more traditional design by one of his favourite architects, Quinlan Terry. Four hundred objectors also wrote to Westminster council.

Speaking about the decision in an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Lord Rogers said: "It knocked the stuffing out of me, and the design team even more.

"We had hoped that Prince Charles had retreated from his position on modern architecture, but he single-handedly destroyed this project."

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The Labour peer also called for a national inquiry into whether the Prince has a constitutional right to become involved in matters such as planning applications which have economic, political and social ramifications.

In particular, Lord Rogers said he objected to the appointment of the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, a charity of which the Prince is president, to help design an alternative scheme at Chelsea Barracks.

Lord Rogers added: "Bringing in the foundation, his own boys if you like, is unbelievably questionable. I absolutely don't think this is acceptable. It is directly self-serving and is unconstitutional."

The row over the Chelsea Barracks site began in April after it emerged that the Prince had written to Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al-Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, calling for the project to be scrapped.

Qatari Diar, which is the development arm of the Qatari royal family, had already spent £30 million in fees.

The project, which would have led to the creation of around 5,000 jobs, will now be delayed for at least 12 months.

The Prince's intervention has infuriated the architectural profession, with a number of leading architects condemning him for using "his privileged position" to disrupt the planning process.

Only days before the withdrawal, planning officers on Westminster council submitted a report that praised the development by Lord Rogers.

Lord Rogers said: "The prince always goes round the back to wield his influence, using phone calls or in the case of the Chelsea barracks, a private letter.

"It is an abuse of power because he is not willing to debate. He has made his representations two and a half years late and anyone but him would have been shown the door.

"We should examine the ethics of this situation. Someone who is unelected, will not debate but will use the power bestowed by his birthright must be questioned."

Prince Charles and Lord Rogers, famed for building Paris's ­Pompidou centre, and the Lloyds building in the City of London, have clashed in the past.

In 1987 Lord Rogers's plans to to rebuild Paternoster Square beside St Paul's Cathedral were dropped after the Prince intervened.

Referring to the proposals in a speech at Mansion House, the Prince said: "You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe. When it knocked down our buildings, it didn't replace them with anything more offensive than rubble."